By Vestnik Kavkaza
Representatives of the Ukrainian energy-generating company “Centrenergo” and Recursion Ventures (an American company) have held negotiations on possible imports of American coal to Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports. “Centrenergo”, which produces about 8% of the coal in Ukraine, has become well-known in the context of a corruption scandal over coal imports from South Africa. The contract with Steel Mont Trading (UK) on importing 1 million tons of South African coal was signed by Centrenergo. In September the Ukrainian government signed an agreement with a company from South Africa on importing 1 million tons of coal. It was broken in early November by the supplier, after the first delivery of supplies (3.5 thousand tons). The main reason for this was Kiev's inability to pay. It will take time to sign a new contract, while Ukraine has no time, as winter is coming. The energy security of the country is under threat. The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine states it should cooperate with Russian suppliers or Donbas.
Lyudmila Plakitkina, the head of the Laboratory of Scientific Foundations and Regulation of the Coal and Peat Industry of the Institute for Energy Studies of the RAS, says that in general there are 150 coal mines in Ukraine. More than 90 of them are situated in Donbas. Only 28 mines operate at the moment, 68 mines have been shut down and operate in life-support mode, i.e. pumping out water.
59 mines of such companies as Ordzhonikidzeugol, Shakhterskantratsit and Taresantratsit were shut down completely. As for the Donetsk mines, Oktyabrsky Rudnik, Trudovskaya, Mospinskaya, Komsomolets Donbassa were shut down. It seems that at some enterprises it will be impossible to revive coal mining. “Despite these facts, when military activities become less intensive in Donbas, people try to reconstruct the mines. At Makeyevka Makeyevugol, which unites eight mines, they are trying to restore coal mining in four mines. So there is a chance that some of them will be restored,” Plakitkina says.
47% of electricity power in Ukraine is generated from coal, 53% from nuclear power.
At the moment regular mining is provided in regions where there are no military activities. These are such concerns as Lvovugol, Volynugol, Krasnoarmeiskugol, Selidovugol, Krasnolimanskaya. However, their general capacity is not enough to provide CHP stations with coal.
Last year the Donetsk Region produced 37.5 million tons of coal, in the Lugansk Region – 26 million tons; in the Dnepropetrovsk Region – 13 million tons, in the Lvov Region – 1.5 million tons, and in the Volhynia Region – 376 thousand tons.
In October coal-mining in the Donetsk Region decreased 64% in comparison with the same period in 2013 – down to 1.1 million tons; 50% of it is coking coal.
At the same time, in October 2014 state-funded enterprises produced 522 thousand tons of coal, i.e. 46% of the entire volume of coal which was mined in the Donetsk Region.
Enterprises of the Donetsk Region situated on territory controlled by Ukraine produced anew additional 900 thousand tons of the black gold in 2014.
“Their general capacity is 23.5 million tons of coal by November 1st, 2014. The volume is not enough for continuation of the heating season. So decisions on coal imports were inevitable,” Plakitkina explained.
